Burmese

A popular interactive breed which can be quite demanding. Has a short dense coat which comes in a variety of colours and eyes can be of any shade of yellow from chartreuse to amber, with golden yellow preferred.

Anecdotal reports suggest they can be very territorial to other cats in the neighbourhood.

Image supplied by Animal Photography 

Health and welfare issues

Burmese cats are quite robust but some lines may be susceptible to diabetes mellitus. Inherited hypokalaemic polymyopathy (muscle weakness due to low levels of blood potassium) is seen occasionally in young Burmese cats. A few Burmese have developed an unusual condition called feline orofacial pain syndrome and in the USA there has been a problem with a head and brain deformity. Some lines of Burmese also have unusual eating habits and will eat wool garments and other inedible items – this is known as pica. Gangliosidosishas also been identified in Burmese cats. Flat chested kittens have been a problem in the breed.

Important

We have limited the information about inherited disorders to those conditions that are known and proven to exist within a breed. For many breeders and many conditions, insufficient information may be available at this time to know whether any particular breed is necessarily free of any particular condition.

In general, pedigree breeds use a much smaller gene pool for breeding than domestic cats and therefore have a higher risk of developing inherited disorders. In addition, a number of ‘newer’ pedigree breeds are derived from matings between one or more ‘older’ breeds, and in these situations perpetuation of inherited problems that were seen in older breeds is likely within the newer breeds.